Corruption, confusion, chaos, and catastrophic failure in organizations can be easily prevented.Throughout history, major disasters involving organizations - regardless of their sector of origin or area of impact (government, private industry, military, intelligence, environment, economy, science, engineering, healthcare, medicine, public health, law enforcement, etc.) - usually have one thing in common: a lack of collaborative deliberation, collaborative accountability, collaborative transparency, or collaborative accountability. Often all four critical elements of collaborative integrity are missing.

In the folklore of management literature, there's a story called "The Trip to Abilene," which nearly everyone who's taken a management class has heard. In the tale, a group of individuals with nothing to do are sitting around, talking. One of them suggests that they drive over to Abilene for refreshments. A discussion ensues, and they decide to go. The trip was a disaster. When they arrived, everyone was complaining. The group then argued over who was responsible. In the final analysis, they...

"The responsibility of a journalist is to give a voice to those who have been forgotten, forsaken, beaten down by the powerful."

"There's got to be a media outlet that is run not by corporations that profit from war, but run by journalists and artists."

"When you hear someone speaking from their own experience - whether a Palestinian child, an Israeli grandmother, an Afghan aunt, an uncle from Afghanistan - you come to understand them a little better. You don't necessarily have to agree, but you understand where they're coming from. We need a Media in this country that builds bridges between communities, rather than advocates the bombing of bridges. The Media can be a great force for peace. But that's not how it's used in this country."

"For all of the new ways - interesting ways of distributing media...I still think we need to get back to the very important basics of journalism: holding those in power accountable. Simple as that."

"In this high-tech digital age...still all we ever get is static - that veil of distortion, lies, misrepresentations, and half-truths that obscure reality. When what we need is the dictionary definition of static: criticism, opposition, unwanted interference. We need a Media that covers power, not covers for power. We need a Media that is The Fourth Estate, not "For the State." And we need a Media that covers the movements that create static and make history. That's not the kind of Media we have in this country."